Jos happy about Canadian Grand Prix

Published on 15 June 2003 by Huub Rothengatter

We just spoke with a very happy Jos Verstappen. After a interesting start of this past weekend where sporting politics were talk of the day, Minardi have made a good impression.
"I like this circuit and it suits Minardi. Less downforce and more emphasis on engine power combined with late braking are on this circuit advantageous for us."

Jos was called in for an early pitstop, aiming for a better position and also to avoid the traffic behind Villeneuve. The pitstops mixed the whole field up and Jos came in front of his team mate.
"Although the car did not feel excellent, I was able to fight for position with the backmarkers. I had problems with the radio, therefore the team had to communicate with me via our pit board. My second pitstop took quite some time because we had to put a lot of fuel in the car."

Jos satisfied about his Canadian performance

After this second pitstop we saw that Jos ended up behind Wilson and the gap between them grew. "I lost a lot of time letting the front runners pass. The gap to Justin was at one point almost 12 seconds. It's a shame that Justin didn't get his reward for this weekend, he had to retire with a broken gearbox."

Many Verstappen fans would have had a bit of hope when Da Matta retired and another Jaguar seemingly not making it to the finish. "Well, too bad. We were so close to a point scoring position, but we didn't make it. I am looking forward to the Nurburgring, it will be my 100th Grand Prix there. The great number of Dutch fans who are always present there give me extra motivation to do well."

When we asked whether a new Dutch sponsor would be added to the Minardi team Jos did not answer our question but commented that soon more clarity will be given.